LOST WITHIN EASY EEACH OF AID. 303 



parents clung to their little ones. Several mothers, it is said, perished with their little 

 ones clasped in their arms. The carpenter and his wife were seen embracing each other 

 and their child in the extreme of agony. The poor woman asked a young man, Henry 

 Hammond, to pull her cloak over her shoulders, when a tremendous wave came and washed 

 off, in a moment, twelve persons, and her among them. 



Soon after the crash the captain's voice was heard for the last time. He and the 

 mate appear to have been the very first that perished, and the conclusion is that they 

 must have been dragged overboard by the wreck of the mainmast. It is true that 

 an absurd report was spread in Beaumaris that both captain and mate reached land 

 safely in the boat, part of which was found on shore early in the morning. This is 

 unlikely; but it is quite possible many lives might have been saved in the boat, if 

 she had leen provided with oars. The absence of these, however, shows in a glaring 

 manner the utter recklessness of human life which marked the whole affair. It was 

 stated by Mr. Henry Hammond, ship-carver, of Liverpool, one of the persons saved, 

 that it was not true that a party of the passengers got into the boat soon after the 

 vessel struck, and were immediately swamped. The statement he gave was that the boat 

 was hanging by the davits over the stern, nearly 'filled with water in consequence of the 

 spray ; when the vessel struck, he and the wife and child of the carpenter got into the boat, 

 but left it again, being ordered out by the mate, who told them it was of no use, as no boat 

 could live in such a sea. The boat soon after broke adrift and was lost, but there was no 

 person in her. 



"For above a mile and a half to the spit-buoy in the Friar's Road," says Morrison, 

 tc the sand is dry at half ebb, and as the Dutchman's Bank is dry at low water, I ha.ve no 

 hesitation in affirming that there was dry land within half a mile of the wreck when she 

 struck ; and that if they had been informed of the fact, many of them on board might 

 have swam or been drifted over the Swash, and within two hundred yards of the vessel 

 would have found themselves in not more than three or four feet of water/' 



The Swash is very few feet wide, and was easily passed by one individual, who, being 

 a resident in Bangor, knew the locality, and escaped, according to Mr. Whittaker's narrative, 

 who states as follows : " At this time a gentleman from Bangor left the vessel, with a 

 small barrel tied beneath his chin, and an umbrella in his hand, which he unfurled when 

 he got into the water, in the hope of being drifted ashore in time to send some aid to his 

 fellow-sufferers." This was Mr. Jones of Bangor. Now, if Mr. Jones, the pilot, or the 

 captain or mate, or any other person on board, who knew of the vicinity of the dry sand, 

 on which people walk at low water, had explained to the persons who could swim the state 

 of the case, many others might have been saved as well as Mr. Jones. 



A Mr. Tarry, who was exceedingly apprehensive during the passage, kept his wife and 

 children in the cabin ; on the vessel striking he made immediate inquiries respecting their 

 probable fate ; and Jones, the pilot, having indiscreetly said that there was no hope of 

 safety, he became at once calm, and said in a tone of resignation, " I brought out my- 

 family, and to return without them would be worse than death; I'll, therefore^, 

 die with them." He then went down into the cabin and embraced his wife and 

 children. It would appear that they afterwards, impelled by a sense of self-preservation,, 



